Watch the video that will introduce the topic of thinking. The video takes a bit of time to upload. Double click on the screen if it pauses. It is in the upper left hand corner. Click the "View the program" button. Please follow the link to Discovering Psychology: Cognitive Processes
Answer the following questions in a page of your notebook (send it to me at the end of class as an attachment):
What is the model used today to represent the human mind?
In the '30s and '40s what was the most common field of psychology? Why was this the case? What do cognitive psychologists differ from these people?
What was Donald Broadbent's contribution to cognitive psychology?
What is another word for a category? Why are they so important to humans?
Why do you suppose women eventually were seen by prehistoric man as dangerous? Explain using concepts.
Why do violations of schema automatically result in shock?
How is human thought not like a computer's thinking?
How does Robert Glaser define intelligence? Do you agree with this definition? Explain.
For homework: Have read pp. 302-303 Lesson Two: Cognitive Complexity
Background: You are working for a politician that is planning on campaigning in a particular riding. The politician needs to know the most common political ideology in the neighborhood in order to prepare for their speech at the town hall meeting in that particular ridding. They don't have a lot of money to pay for a professional pollster, but they have hired you, a psychology student in a high school.
In your class you have just learned - and this is a fact - that children (and some adults) have a very limited number of cognitive constructs to make sense of their world. For example, to many children another child is either a "friend" or "not a friend", a game is either "fun" or "not fun". Thus, the child has only two constructs with which to make sense of age peers or activities for entertainment.
For you to get an idea what this means: Describe two people, one you like, the other you dislike. Do this in exactly ten minutes. Post it above in the discussion tab for sharing with your classmates (be smart about this part). Read at least a half-dozen other descriptions from your class. Don't pay too much attention to the words used as you do to the number of constructs the person uses.
Note: many different constructs indicate an individual that has a more elaborate and complex concept of what makes up a person; whereas few would suggest that the writer has a more simple concept of a person.
Problem: You need to create a short test that can be given to the people in the riding that the politician is intending to visit and give a speech. You need to predict whether the population is more on the right (conservative) or more on the left (liberal). Your test can only have three questions on it to determine what side of the political spectrum the population will find itself.
To create the questions consider how many constructs people who are more right-wing in their political ideology would respond to the exercise done above. Consider the same for people who are more left-wing.
Create your questions and link them to a Survey Monkey. You should use the Comment/Essay box type questions (refer to the above exercise).
Post your links to your survey below. Analyze your data: invite your KIS reads class to take the survey (not in class, but after school on their own time). Block F
Those two approaches are generally how we solve problems. We use the "rule-of-thumb" strategy of a heuristic; or, we have a procedural approach of the algorithm. Consider the following problem:
A man bought a horse for $60 and sold it for $70. Then he bought the same horse back for $80 and again sold it, for $90. How much money did he make in the horse business?
Did you get the right answer? You might have approached this using a heuristic strategy and thus probably got the wrong answer. Try the algorithm approach. That is, "do the math". How much did he spend in total should be subtracted from how much he received in total. Was your answer different? Are you a bit surprised? If so, it is probably just an error in your addressing the problem using the wrong strategy.
Attempt the following problem. Try to solve it as fast as possible and in as few moves as you can.The Tower of Hanoi Problem
Your approach to solving this would be considered an algorithm. There were steps that you took in order to solve the problem. Yes, the above example is very easy. For a more challenging algorithm type problem try **The leap Frog Test**
Class Activity 1: Can the teacher and the student really read each others' mind?
Discuss with your classmates how the teacher and their (student) assistant are able to read each others' mind. Obstacles to Solving Problems
After you're finished discussing this reflect on what problems you had in solving this problem. Were you looking for a solution which would confirm (your) bias? Or were you fixated?
Class Activity 2: The Confirmation Bias and Social Judgements
Imagine that you serve on the jury of an only-child custory case following a relatively messy divorce. The facts of the case are complicated by amiguous economic, social, and emothional considerations, and you decide to base your decision entirely on the following few observations. To which parent would you award sole custody of the child? Parent A, who has an average income, average health, average working hours, a reasonable rapport with the child, and a relatively stable social life, or Parent B, who has an above average income, minor health problems, lots of work-related travel, a very close relationship with the child, and an extremely active social life. (Eldar Shafir)
Class Activity 3: Functional Fixedness
Here is your challenge. You have just opened up your grandfather's trunk and have found:
An old phonograph record
A pad of typerwriter paper
Some transperant tape
A sewing kit
A newly sharpened pencil
You want to listen to the phonograph record. Solve the problem using the materials. Good luck. Oh, your parents will be home real soon, in about 20 minutes. You better solve it before the come home. Have read for next class pp. 305-311 of your text.
Watch the video that will introduce the topic of thinking. The video takes a bit of time to upload. Double click on the screen if it pauses. It is in the upper left hand corner. Click the "View the program" button. Please follow the link to Discovering Psychology: Cognitive Processes
Answer the following questions in a page of your notebook (send it to me at the end of class as an attachment):
For homework: Have read pp. 302-303
Lesson Two: Cognitive Complexity
Cognitive Complexity
Background: You are working for a politician that is planning on campaigning in a particular riding. The politician needs to know the most common political ideology in the neighborhood in order to prepare for their speech at the town hall meeting in that particular ridding. They don't have a lot of money to pay for a professional pollster, but they have hired you, a psychology student in a high school.
In your class you have just learned - and this is a fact - that children (and some adults) have a very limited number of cognitive constructs to make sense of their world. For example, to many children another child is either a "friend" or "not a friend", a game is either "fun" or "not fun". Thus, the child has only two constructs with which to make sense of age peers or activities for entertainment.
For you to get an idea what this means: Describe two people, one you like, the other you dislike. Do this in exactly ten minutes. Post it above in the discussion tab for sharing with your classmates (be smart about this part). Read at least a half-dozen other descriptions from your class. Don't pay too much attention to the words used as you do to the number of constructs the person uses.
Note: many different constructs indicate an individual that has a more elaborate and complex concept of what makes up a person; whereas few would suggest that the writer has a more simple concept of a person.
Problem: You need to create a short test that can be given to the people in the riding that the politician is intending to visit and give a speech. You need to predict whether the population is more on the right (conservative) or more on the left (liberal). Your test can only have three questions on it to determine what side of the political spectrum the population will find itself.
To create the questions consider how many constructs people who are more right-wing in their political ideology would respond to the exercise done above. Consider the same for people who are more left-wing.
Create your questions and link them to a Survey Monkey. You should use the Comment/Essay box type questions (refer to the above exercise).
Post your links to your survey below. Analyze your data: invite your KIS reads class to take the survey (not in class, but after school on their own time).
Block F
Megan gallagher
Lauren Lee
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JBZW6HN
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/X8XF5C3
Lisa Ahn and Jenny Lee
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R9VGJMV
Lesson Three: Solving Problems
Be sure to understand a couple of the key terms used in this module:
- Heuristic
- Algorithm
Those two approaches are generally how we solve problems. We use the "rule-of-thumb" strategy of a heuristic; or, we have a procedural approach of the algorithm. Consider the following problem:- A man bought a horse for $60 and sold it for $70. Then he bought the same horse back for $80 and again sold it, for $90. How much money did he make in the horse business?
Did you get the right answer? You might have approached this using a heuristic strategy and thus probably got the wrong answer. Try the algorithm approach. That is, "do the math". How much did he spend in total should be subtracted from how much he received in total. Was your answer different? Are you a bit surprised? If so, it is probably just an error in your addressing the problem using the wrong strategy.Attempt the following problem. Try to solve it as fast as possible and in as few moves as you can.The Tower of Hanoi Problem
Your approach to solving this would be considered an algorithm. There were steps that you took in order to solve the problem. Yes, the above example is very easy. For a more challenging algorithm type problem try **The leap Frog Test**
Class Activity 1: Can the teacher and the student really read each others' mind?
Discuss with your classmates how the teacher and their (student) assistant are able to read each others' mind.
Obstacles to Solving Problems
After you're finished discussing this reflect on what problems you had in solving this problem. Were you looking for a solution which would confirm (your) bias? Or were you fixated?
Class Activity 2: The Confirmation Bias and Social Judgements
Imagine that you serve on the jury of an only-child custory case following a relatively messy divorce. The facts of the case are complicated by amiguous economic, social, and emothional considerations, and you decide to base your decision entirely on the following few observations. To which parent would you award sole custody of the child? Parent A, who has an average income, average health, average working hours, a reasonable rapport with the child, and a relatively stable social life, or Parent B, who has an above average income, minor health problems, lots of work-related travel, a very close relationship with the child, and an extremely active social life. (Eldar Shafir)
Class Activity 3: Functional Fixedness
Here is your challenge. You have just opened up your grandfather's trunk and have found:
- An old phonograph record
- A pad of typerwriter paper
- Some transperant tape
- A sewing kit
- A newly sharpened pencil
You want to listen to the phonograph record. Solve the problem using the materials. Good luck. Oh, your parents will be home real soon, in about 20 minutes. You better solve it before the come home.Have read for next class pp. 305-311 of your text.